In terms of broadband, the UK used to be the laggard – its penetration was way behind many of its Western European and international counterparts earlier this decade. The UK now leads Europe's five largest markets in broadband uptake, both in the number of broadband households and penetration.

In 2007, over half (51 percent) of UK households had broadband access, growing from 40 percent last year. More than eight in 10 UK households with Internet now have broadband connections.

As of March this year, UK household broadband penetration was 47.1 percent. eMarketer also projected that the UK's broadband penetration would increase to nearly 76.8 percent by 2011.